It was a simple day when i required a little R & R to get rid of the daily grind. So it was that i choose a sea front bar cum restaurant called Water Cross at Pasir Ris park.
There were 2 sections to this restaurant. Outdoor and indoor. The indoor section had air conditioning and sofa seats which appealed to me.
Everything went well until i was told i couldn't take photos. Which was fine except it took about 20mins to confirm this fact, i could have happily left had they told me earlier.
What i ordered was:
Hoegarden (bottle) $10 - this is more or less daylight robbery but its to be expected. However, i do think that if they wish to charge ridiculous prices for drinks, at least do it by tap or pour it out of the bottle first to make us feel less stupid. After all, i could have bought 4 bottles of the same drink at $17.50 from NTUC nearby.
The island punch $9 - my gf ordered this mocktail which was rather interested with a minty and sourish taste. Still its $9 and its definitely not worth it.
Golden wings ($10.80) - the grand total of wings came out to be 5 chicken wings...there's really nothing much on it to enhance the taste. I'm guessing salt and lots of oil. To be fair, it doesn't taste too bad but how bad can chicken wings be?
Seafood pasta ($17.80) - another overly priced and poorly executed item. The seafood is moderate but no where near generous. The pasta is soggy and portion size was pathetic. I'm only glad that i didn't order 2 mains to waste my money on.
The total bill came up to $52.36.
The best consolation from this experience is that i didn't have to pay gst. But come on, look at the price and you know where this hidden cost is at.
Sorry if its all just complaining but i honestly think it was a total waste of money. Return to this place? No way. Cheerios.
Village wok, a simple name for a simple image. Traditional food at a semi affordable price and secret recipes which brought about a fortune. I'd like to thank the owner for inviting us for a tasting session and for the wonderful hospitality they've shown the group.
Hidden in a rather inconspicuous corner along Cecil and Amoy street is this extremely Chinese looking restaurant. The interior is adorned with simple antique furniture and the bare minimals, tables, chairs, air conditioning and lots of white cloth. In simple fact, its simplicity extends to its food offerings as well. Thats not a bad thing by the way. In fact, the restaurant is simply a front for a greater business, the actual supply and selling of their famous and secret sauces.
DIY Popiah Set ($20 per set) - An apt start to our session began with one of their more popular items, the do-it-yourself popiah. At $20 a set, this is pretty good value for money since its possible to serve up to 5 people. The real draw lies in the process of making these little delectable dishes. A little bit of carrot here, some shrimp here, a little cucumber and sauces there, its actually loads of fun for such a simple process. I have to complement the chili sauce provided because it was mild yet retained some spiciness for a suitable kick.
Chilled crab with special vinegrette sauce ($30 per crab) - To enjoy this dish, one must first reserve it with the restaurant since there's only a fixed number of these little crustaceans available daily. The real draw of it lies in the succulently sweet meat and sinful eggish paste that comes with each one of these crawlies. Taken as it is, its already a treat but simply swab a little of Village Wok's top grade vinegrette and you'll be sold on paying a whooping $30 per crab. Steeply priced? Definitely. Worth a try? The depends on your wallet.
Fried Brinjal with crispy squid in BXO sauce ($15) - This dish was a surprise to me simply because, i dislike brinjal and this dish made me reconsider my opinions of this tasty plant. The sweet sauce coupled with the fried squid served to give the soggy plant more texture and taste then i'm ever tasted before. I enjoyed this dish and have been trying brinjal made dishes ever since.
The Phoenix soars ($21 ) - A flashy name for a simple dish. The is basically just a plate of roasted and white boneless chicken. The twist lies in the addition of lettuce to wrap the chicken in and of course, Village wok's own chili and garlic sauce which proved once again to complement it very well. I prefered the white chicken which was more tender but otherwise was only impressed with the sauce since i've had the same conceptualised chicken in other establishements.
Black pepper ham leg ($23 ) - Pig's trotters honestly do not appeal to me but this was once again a surprise. The crispy skin coupled with a thin layer of fats and thick lean meat provided a decent balance to the palate. There's a slight "porkish" smell from the fat but is easily negated with Village wok's rather spicy black pepper sauce.
Village Wok Celebration Parade ($22 ) - Simply roast pork and char siew in an extremely nicely set dish. The presentation for this did loads to make us hunger for it. This dish was another of their simple dishes done well. Tender, juicy and sweet char siew with an equally juicy roast pork in mustard sauce, whats not to like?
Steamed Pating fish with preserved vegetables ($44 ) - I love fish and i love batang chopped into little pieces to be used in porridge. This rendition is sadly not one of those i liked. The salty preserved vegetables and steamed fish didn't seem to complement each other since fish are supposed to be sweet and having a salty base simply didn't bring out the flavor i've come to expect and love.
Smiling fortune noodle ($8 ) - This noodles happens to one of the cheapest items you can find here. In fact, its rather value for money, has a strong shrimp taste and is a tad spicy. I liked it though.
Home-made Nonya Kaya with bread - Now this was weird, the kaya was balanced and sweet enough to have all of us popping each piece of bread into our mouths non stop. In fact, after all the food above, we managed to clear 3 plates of this strangely addictive yet simple item. Many of us were tempted to purchase the kaya home as well.
Black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream and lemongrass ice cream($4.50) - Dessert is also a simple affair with the surprise hit being the lemongrass ice cream. I liked the way it cleaned the palate and refreshed our heaty breaths after a heavy meal.I'd recommend it over the coconut ice cream anyday.
True to what our host said, the sauces are the star of the day. Without which, the food offerings would have seemed too simple to be worth the amount they commanded. I can understand why people would pay to have these sauces supplied given their popularity with even my group. However, i do need to point out that this meal would have cost in excess of $200 if we were billed for it. And i do feel its still too steep a price to pay.
Breeks located at the corner of level 3 at T2 is a nice place to chill while waiting for friends to arrive or depart. >.<
Being Halal certified also means that everyone is able to enjoy the food and wide variety of desserts here.
If you're looking for powerpoint for your machines, there's only one (I think) near the entrance on the red wall.
Food here is nice and the serving size fits my tummy just fine. The chicken patty is packed with crunchy onions, and some unknown stuff which I simply ignored. I digg anything chicken and with melted cheese!
The Nutella Milkshake though could be better. The shake isn't thick enough imo.
Looking at the crowd here now, at this hour (yes I'm writing this review while I'm still here) on a Friday night, I guess it shouldn't be a problem getting a table for meal.
Perhaps if I'm going to stay here longer, I might give one of their desserts a try. Anyone wants to join me?
I visited and bought things from Ikea Tampines close 8 times in the last 2 months. That's really a record for someone who doesn't drive. I faithfully took the shuttle on most trips and took a cab home on a couple of occasions.
There are a number of things I've learnt on these trips to Ikea...
Unless you bought extremely large items, it still makes more sense to take a cab home rather than pay for delivery which is $40 if you live in Tampines, Pasir Ris or Simei areas and $45 for other areas. There was one occasion where we bought quite a number of items and we booked a Maxi Cab home, costing us $20 which is still cheaper than the delivery cost and we needn't wait for the delivery date/time.
If you're going for a specific item/s, call ahead to check for stock, especially during peak seasons before Christmas and CNY. Things go out of stock easily and may not be re-stocked within the week. It happened to me a few times and it's quite exasperating.
Always keep your receipt. Ikea is no longer as liberal as they used to be on return policies. I think there were amendments to the policy when they realised that people were taking advantage of it. Keep your receipt not as proof of purchase but to prove WHEN you made your purchase as they have a 100-day policy. It didn't used to be this way.
AND if you see the item going on clearance... MAKE SURE you really want the item before buying it. If the item is no longer sold at the store, you'll have trouble trying to return it if you don't like it anymore.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK before going. We did do our homework but when we got there we had a change of mind. If you take a look at my pictures I have a high table with metal legs. Those aren't suppose to go together. The metal legs are meant for another table top that has one end attached to the wall. The table top has 16 holes pre-drilled under it. This table top that we got has 20 holes pre drilled under it and we couldn't fix it properly. We were a little upset that we had to return it at first but LUCKILY my contractor did us the favour by putting it together for us. hehe
I still like going to Ikea... I like to buy all the little decorative items for my room and the rest of the house. I enjoy walking around in the big open space and not have any salesperson following me around. I like how they sometimes stock the things in two areas so that you can change your mind and still buy the item without going back up. I also love the $1 hotdogs which I buy to eat while waiting for the shuttle.
Firstly please accept my apologies on the poor photographs posted up. The material we chose was blackout material which means it shuts out the light from outside when the photo is taken. At the point when these photographs were taken my lights weren't completely ready.
I saw this shop on television, a chinese variety programme, and decided to give it a try. Upon getting to Tanjong Katong Complex we realised that there were many curtain shops there, and we enquired at every one. We asked for the same thing at every single shop: 4 sets of blinds with blackout materials. We received quotes from $200 to $290 per set.
Jimmy Textile was the only one who was able to give a definite quotation based on our accurate measurements. They were willing to confirm the quotation of $200 on the spot even without going to our place to measure (we took the measurements right down to the mm.) They also did not try to hardsell, badger us or hover around us as we looked at the materials. They, in a friendly manner, just left all the materials we needed on the table and left us alone to choose. And whenever we needed help they gave us the advice we needed. They have a wide variety of materials and we really took a lot of time scouring through the various booklets.
On the day, they came to take measurements, they were very punctual and polite. My father was very fussy about the measurement of the blinds but the uncle was still very patient with him, making sure we were satisfied with the measurements before they left.
I had to change the installation date/time 3 times due to the delays in my renovation but there were no grumbles from them and they tried to accomodate whenever they could. They work every day, even Sundays and Public Holidays (Except for CNY).
My installation was finally fixed on a Sunday and the two men came promptly. Just 20 minutes before they were to arrive they called me to confirm that I was there. I think this is really good practice. When they came they did their work as quickly as they could and were very careful when placing the ladder on my newly laid tiles. I absolutely love my new blinds!
This is a small shop right at the corner of a row of shophouses. You might just miss it if you don't look up and see the big signboard. I got to know of this shop from renovation forums and went down to take a look.
Small as it looked from the outside, it was cramped with all sorts of lights inside. They have designer lights and simple ones too! They also sell a range of ceiling fans though not very many. The husband and wife team are very polite throughout our hour long visit on both days and they obligingly turned on all the lights we asked for. (you'll be surprised many shops aren't happy to.) They also suggested energy-saving methods and were professional in handling us even though it's a family-run business and they have two kids hanging out at the back.
The prices are cheaper than most of the bigger shops and I even saw one of their lights retailing at a popular store for 4 times its price. So I was rather happy to get most of my lights there.
Two weeks after I moved in, one of the bedroom lights died and we called them up. They aimably sent down someone two days later to fix it. No questions asked.
This is the only shop that utterly ruined my renovation experience. I have no choice but to relate my entire experience here...
We were out shopping for sanitary and stopped by at Viva Nueva first. But I didn't like the design of the one-piece toilet bowl they had there so we thanked the saleslady, Jojo and we went to look for more. We finally picked out our toilet bowls, sinks and taps at a shop further down. But my mom really liked the cooking hob at Viva Nueva so we walked back to the shop. We ordered our hob and kitchen sink from them and left. Before we left I asked for them to provide me with a trap for the kitchen sink. It costs only $5 and Jojo's face immediately turned "black" when I asked for it FOC. I just spent $700 at her shop and she was unhappy about me asking for a $5 item....
After 30 minutes, Jojo called me on the phone and demanded to know where I bought my sanitary fittings. She asked if I bought from XXX shop down the street and demanded to know exactly what I bought from them. I flatly refused to give her any details and the conversation lasted for 8 minutes with her repeatedly asking me what I bought. When I put down the phone, I really regretted buying anything from her but since I'd already paid the deposit I only prayed for my items to come intact.
About a week later, I asked for the items to be delivered. The salesgirl on the line (not Jojo) confirmed that my items can be delivered on Wednesday at 1pm. At 12pm on Wednesday I called to confirm again and she told me that the items were not in the warehouse yet and she cannot confirm that my items can reach me at 1pm!! Can you imagine that she didn't even intend to call me beforehand and was going to let me wait like a fool at a half-renovated house with no seats?! Anyway I agreed to postpone the delivery to the next day.
The next day the items arrive promptly... but... there was no hole for my tap on the kitchen sink. There was a hole on the sink that was displayed in the showroom so I naturally assumed that the sink comes with a hole for kitchen taps. I do know that some sinks do not as the taps are to be mounted on the table top. So I called Viva Nueva again and this time Jojo answered.
She insisted that it was MY FAULT for not telling them that I needed a hole for my kitchen tap and wanted me to ask my contractor/plumber to drill a hole. BUT if they did the job and spoilt the sink who was to pay for it? In the first place, I don't buy sinks every day and am not a professional at buying sinks so HOW WOULD I KNOW that sinks don't come with holes?! She as the sales staff SHOULD ask the customer if they need one drilled isn't it??? Anyway the deliveryman was very kind and he agreed to take back the sink and drill the hole for me, even while I was still arguing with Jojo over the phone. So there went my sink again. Thankfully my kitchen hob came intact.
I told Jojo that she has to inform me two hours before the delivery of my sink as I needed time to rush down. She said she would inform me an hour before and I found that to be reasonable. BUT the next day, the deliveryman called me at 12noon to tell me that he was there waiting for me. I was on my way to town and simply couldn't rush down. So the deliveryman left the sink there and left. I managed to go down at 4pm and lo and behold, there was a footprint in the middle of the sink and tons of haphazard scratches all over the base of the sink which weren't there in the first place. I reckon they must have gotten there when the drilling was done.
Anyway I called Jojo again and told her to take back the sink. She said that the scratches were part of the design and ALL her sinks have the scratch-like design. hahaha Anyway she said she got her deliveryman to come down and I asked her when he would arrive. She insisted that he was coming now and refused to say when he would arrive. He did eventually after 45 minutes and took back the sink grudgingly saying that he would never deliver the sink again.
In the next two days, we argued with Jojo many times and insisted that we wanted a refund and that we would just buy our sink elsewhere since the delivery of HER sink was delaying our renovation. My contractor needed her sink in order to cut the opening on my kitchen cabinets. After much talks, the sink finally came (unannounced again) and we inspected it before paying the remaining amount in cash.
What an experience it was just trying to get our $235 sink (which IS expensive for a non-European sink btw).
The hob wasn't cheap too at $529 though I was told by friends that for that brand it is quite a good buy. BUT I certainly would have settled for a lesser brand if I knew how much trouble patronising this shop would cause.
After renovation, the walls in our house looked so empty so we looked into ways of getting them spruced up. My parents weren't a fan of getting paintings as holes had to be made in order to hang the paintings up.
So I thought of wall decals. After looking at many local decal websites, I found Decorette! I liked a few of the designs on the website and was ready to order them. However, at that point, I could find one that I liked for the living room. I wanted something which was family related but there weren't any of those. So I decided to have one customised.
I emailed Amanda of Decorette about my plans and she replied in a couple of days. With a couple of emails to and fro, we had the design finalised and I paid through paypal. In 3 days after paying, the decals were on my doorstep! That's fast isn't it? Especially since she needed to customise mine and cut it up, etc... Not to mention the customised one cost $50 only! She also threw in little swirly designs for me free... and I made little changes to my chandelier one without additional charges.
The decals came well packed and protected by the hard tube, so they were in mint condition.
The decals were easy to put up and the instructions were easy to understand. Amanda even included a little cute birdie for us, first-timers, to try putting up before we put our actual decal. But we loved the birdie so much we put it together with the family decal!
Though easy to put up, it still took us some time about 1 and a half hours to put two up. But it was well worth the effort!
I was shopping along Geylang for my sanitary fittings and came across this shop. We were looking specifically for one-piece toilet bowls as they are known to have less leakage problems but the one-piece bowls at other shops were really expensive, some going up to $800 when a two-piece one goes for $100 .
We went into Eestilo and was happy to find that they had a package for the one-piece bowl and a sink for $299. There were also other sinks available and one has to just top up a little on the package.
What I was most impressed with was the level of service provided. Sunny, the sales guy there, moved the two sinks we wanted to where they had the taps. At my father's request, he detached the taps from the display and place them on the sinks we chose to let us see if it was satisfactory. He did that for 7-8 taps without any grumble and with a smile, in fact!
Though the taps weren't as cheap as we had hope for it to be but I guess the promotion for the one-piece toilet bowl and the service made up for all that. :)
I got to know about this shop from a renovation forum while doing renovations in my home. I favoured this over the regular Jalan Besar shops cos it's away from all the light-shoppers AND it's much nearer to where I live. Moreover I'm more familiar with Geylang. But I hadn't shopped for lights before then and wasn't sure what to expect.
I liked the shop instantly on sight. It was in a corner of a pretty rundown building. What I liked was that it wasn't one of those big snobbish looking lighting stores (like some others I passed along the way there). It looked exactly like what it was.. a family run business with nice warm friendly smiles. Alex is the young man in charge and he certainly knows his products well! If you see a light that you liked in another shop you can just describe it to him and he will know it instantly.
The shop itself is quite small though they try to cramp as much as possible on display. He knows lights pretty well so he can source for lights which aren't on display in his shop. I think the prices in his shop are very competitive and certainly much cheaper than the bigger fancy stores I went to on the same stretch. He has the same designs too! I think Alex's resourcefulness really makes up for the lack of variety (his shop is small rem?).
On top of that they have ceiling fans of almost every brand there and it's good to talk to Alex about ceiling fans because he can really advise on what size and brand to buy.
I think the best part was that they weren't pushy. We went back three times and only bought on the third trip. AND Alex remembered us and our requirements even after a few days. In fact, he remembered my sister even after a few weeks!
With good prices, prompt delivery and good service, I think this shop is really worth visiting if you're looking for lights!!
1=SGD 0.0587
It was a simple day when i required a little R & R to get rid of the daily grind. So it was that i choose a sea front bar cum restaurant called Water Cross at Pasir Ris park.
There were 2 sections to this restaurant. Outdoor and indoor. The indoor section had air conditioning and sofa seats which appealed to me.
Everything went well until i was told i couldn't take photos. Which was fine except it took about 20mins to confirm this fact, i could have happily left had they told me earlier.
What i ordered was:
Hoegarden (bottle) $10 - this is more or less daylight robbery but its to be expected. However, i do think that if they wish to charge ridiculous prices for drinks, at least do it by tap or pour it out of the bottle first to make us feel less stupid. After all, i could have bought 4 bottles of the same drink at $17.50 from NTUC nearby.
The island punch $9 - my gf ordered this mocktail which was rather interested with a minty and sourish taste. Still its $9 and its definitely not worth it.
Golden wings ($10.80) - the grand total of wings came out to be 5 chicken wings...there's really nothing much on it to enhance the taste. I'm guessing salt and lots of oil. To be fair, it doesn't taste too bad but how bad can chicken wings be?
Seafood pasta ($17.80) - another overly priced and poorly executed item. The seafood is moderate but no where near generous. The pasta is soggy and portion size was pathetic. I'm only glad that i didn't order 2 mains to waste my money on.
The total bill came up to $52.36.
The best consolation from this experience is that i didn't have to pay gst. But come on, look at the price and you know where this hidden cost is at.
Sorry if its all just complaining but i honestly think it was a total waste of money. Return to this place? No way. Cheerios.
Rating given:
Village wok, a simple name for a simple image. Traditional food at a semi affordable price and secret recipes which brought about a fortune. I'd like to thank the owner for inviting us for a tasting session and for the wonderful hospitality they've shown the group.
Hidden in a rather inconspicuous corner along Cecil and Amoy street is this extremely Chinese looking restaurant. The interior is adorned with simple antique furniture and the bare minimals, tables, chairs, air conditioning and lots of white cloth. In simple fact, its simplicity extends to its food offerings as well. Thats not a bad thing by the way.
In fact, the restaurant is simply a front for a greater business, the actual supply and selling of their famous and secret sauces.
DIY Popiah Set ($20 per set) - An apt start to our session began with one of their more popular items, the do-it-yourself popiah. At $20 a set, this is pretty good value for money since its possible to serve up to 5 people. The real draw lies in the process of making these little delectable dishes. A little bit of carrot here, some shrimp here, a little cucumber and sauces there, its actually loads of fun for such a simple process. I have to complement the chili sauce provided because it was mild yet retained some spiciness for a suitable kick.
Chilled crab with special vinegrette sauce ($30 per crab) - To enjoy this dish, one must first reserve it with the restaurant since there's only a fixed number of these little crustaceans available daily. The real draw of it lies in the succulently sweet meat and sinful eggish paste that comes with each one of these crawlies. Taken as it is, its already a treat but simply swab a little of Village Wok's top grade vinegrette and you'll be sold on paying a whooping $30 per crab.
Steeply priced? Definitely. Worth a try? The depends on your wallet.
Fried Brinjal with crispy squid in BXO sauce ($15) - This dish was a surprise to me simply because, i dislike brinjal and this dish made me reconsider my opinions of this tasty plant. The sweet sauce coupled with the fried squid served to give the soggy plant more texture and taste then i'm ever tasted before. I enjoyed this dish and have been trying brinjal made dishes ever since.
The Phoenix soars ($21 ) - A flashy name for a simple dish. The is basically just a plate of roasted and white boneless chicken. The twist lies in the addition of lettuce to wrap the chicken in and of course, Village wok's own chili and garlic sauce which proved once again to complement it very well. I prefered the white chicken which was more tender but otherwise was only impressed with the sauce since i've had the same conceptualised chicken in other establishements.
Black pepper ham leg ($23 ) - Pig's trotters honestly do not appeal to me but this was once again a surprise. The crispy skin coupled with a thin layer of fats and thick lean meat provided a decent balance to the palate. There's a slight "porkish" smell from the fat but is easily negated with Village wok's rather spicy black pepper sauce.
Village Wok Celebration Parade ($22 ) - Simply roast pork and char siew in an extremely nicely set dish. The presentation for this did loads to make us hunger for it. This dish was another of their simple dishes done well. Tender, juicy and sweet char siew with an equally juicy roast pork in mustard sauce, whats not to like?
Steamed Pating fish with preserved vegetables ($44 ) - I love fish and i love batang chopped into little pieces to be used in porridge. This rendition is sadly not one of those i liked. The salty preserved vegetables and steamed fish didn't seem to complement each other since fish are supposed to be sweet and having a salty base simply didn't bring out the flavor i've come to expect and love.
Smiling fortune noodle ($8 ) - This noodles happens to one of the cheapest items you can find here. In fact, its rather value for money, has a strong shrimp taste and is a tad spicy. I liked it though.
Home-made Nonya Kaya with bread - Now this was weird, the kaya was balanced and sweet enough to have all of us popping each piece of bread into our mouths non stop. In fact, after all the food above, we managed to clear 3 plates of this strangely addictive yet simple item. Many of us were tempted to purchase the kaya home as well.
Black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream and lemongrass ice cream($4.50) - Dessert is also a simple affair with the surprise hit being the lemongrass ice cream. I liked the way it cleaned the palate and refreshed our heaty breaths after a heavy meal.I'd recommend it over the coconut ice cream anyday.
True to what our host said, the sauces are the star of the day. Without which, the food offerings would have seemed too simple to be worth the amount they commanded. I can understand why people would pay to have these sauces supplied given their popularity with even my group. However, i do need to point out that this meal would have cost in excess of $200 if we were billed for it. And i do feel its still too steep a price to pay.
Rating given:
Comfort food in cosy setting.
Breeks located at the corner of level 3 at T2 is a nice place to chill while waiting for friends to arrive or depart. >.<
Being Halal certified also means that everyone is able to enjoy the food and wide variety of desserts here.
If you're looking for powerpoint for your machines, there's only one (I think) near the entrance on the red wall.
Food here is nice and the serving size fits my tummy just fine. The chicken patty is packed with crunchy onions, and some unknown stuff which I simply ignored. I digg anything chicken and with melted cheese!
The Nutella Milkshake though could be better. The shake isn't thick enough imo.
Looking at the crowd here now, at this hour (yes I'm writing this review while I'm still here) on a Friday night, I guess it shouldn't be a problem getting a table for meal.
Perhaps if I'm going to stay here longer, I might give one of their desserts a try. Anyone wants to join me?
Rating given:
I visited and bought things from Ikea Tampines close 8 times in the last 2 months. That's really a record for someone who doesn't drive. I faithfully took the shuttle on most trips and took a cab home on a couple of occasions.
There are a number of things I've learnt on these trips to Ikea...
Unless you bought extremely large items, it still makes more sense to take a cab home rather than pay for delivery which is $40 if you live in Tampines, Pasir Ris or Simei areas and $45 for other areas. There was one occasion where we bought quite a number of items and we booked a Maxi Cab home, costing us $20 which is still cheaper than the delivery cost and we needn't wait for the delivery date/time.
If you're going for a specific item/s, call ahead to check for stock, especially during peak seasons before Christmas and CNY. Things go out of stock easily and may not be re-stocked within the week. It happened to me a few times and it's quite exasperating.
Always keep your receipt. Ikea is no longer as liberal as they used to be on return policies. I think there were amendments to the policy when they realised that people were taking advantage of it. Keep your receipt not as proof of purchase but to prove WHEN you made your purchase as they have a 100-day policy. It didn't used to be this way.
AND if you see the item going on clearance... MAKE SURE you really want the item before buying it. If the item is no longer sold at the store, you'll have trouble trying to return it if you don't like it anymore.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK before going. We did do our homework but when we got there we had a change of mind. If you take a look at my pictures I have a high table with metal legs. Those aren't suppose to go together. The metal legs are meant for another table top that has one end attached to the wall. The table top has 16 holes pre-drilled under it. This table top that we got has 20 holes pre drilled under it and we couldn't fix it properly. We were a little upset that we had to return it at first but LUCKILY my contractor did us the favour by putting it together for us. hehe
I still like going to Ikea... I like to buy all the little decorative items for my room and the rest of the house. I enjoy walking around in the big open space and not have any salesperson following me around. I like how they sometimes stock the things in two areas so that you can change your mind and still buy the item without going back up. I also love the $1 hotdogs which I buy to eat while waiting for the shuttle.
Rating given:
Firstly please accept my apologies on the poor photographs posted up. The material we chose was blackout material which means it shuts out the light from outside when the photo is taken. At the point when these photographs were taken my lights weren't completely ready.
I saw this shop on television, a chinese variety programme, and decided to give it a try. Upon getting to Tanjong Katong Complex we realised that there were many curtain shops there, and we enquired at every one. We asked for the same thing at every single shop: 4 sets of blinds with blackout materials. We received quotes from $200 to $290 per set.
Jimmy Textile was the only one who was able to give a definite quotation based on our accurate measurements. They were willing to confirm the quotation of $200 on the spot even without going to our place to measure (we took the measurements right down to the mm.) They also did not try to hardsell, badger us or hover around us as we looked at the materials. They, in a friendly manner, just left all the materials we needed on the table and left us alone to choose. And whenever we needed help they gave us the advice we needed. They have a wide variety of materials and we really took a lot of time scouring through the various booklets.
On the day, they came to take measurements, they were very punctual and polite. My father was very fussy about the measurement of the blinds but the uncle was still very patient with him, making sure we were satisfied with the measurements before they left.
I had to change the installation date/time 3 times due to the delays in my renovation but there were no grumbles from them and they tried to accomodate whenever they could. They work every day, even Sundays and Public Holidays (Except for CNY).
My installation was finally fixed on a Sunday and the two men came promptly. Just 20 minutes before they were to arrive they called me to confirm that I was there. I think this is really good practice. When they came they did their work as quickly as they could and were very careful when placing the ladder on my newly laid tiles. I absolutely love my new blinds!
Rating given:
This is a small shop right at the corner of a row of shophouses. You might just miss it if you don't look up and see the big signboard. I got to know of this shop from renovation forums and went down to take a look.
Small as it looked from the outside, it was cramped with all sorts of lights inside. They have designer lights and simple ones too! They also sell a range of ceiling fans though not very many. The husband and wife team are very polite throughout our hour long visit on both days and they obligingly turned on all the lights we asked for. (you'll be surprised many shops aren't happy to.) They also suggested energy-saving methods and were professional in handling us even though it's a family-run business and they have two kids hanging out at the back.
The prices are cheaper than most of the bigger shops and I even saw one of their lights retailing at a popular store for 4 times its price. So I was rather happy to get most of my lights there.
Two weeks after I moved in, one of the bedroom lights died and we called them up. They aimably sent down someone two days later to fix it. No questions asked.
Thumbs up for good service and prices!
Rating given:
This is the only shop that utterly ruined my renovation experience. I have no choice but to relate my entire experience here...
We were out shopping for sanitary and stopped by at Viva Nueva first. But I didn't like the design of the one-piece toilet bowl they had there so we thanked the saleslady, Jojo and we went to look for more. We finally picked out our toilet bowls, sinks and taps at a shop further down. But my mom really liked the cooking hob at Viva Nueva so we walked back to the shop. We ordered our hob and kitchen sink from them and left. Before we left I asked for them to provide me with a trap for the kitchen sink. It costs only $5 and Jojo's face immediately turned "black" when I asked for it FOC. I just spent $700 at her shop and she was unhappy about me asking for a $5 item....
After 30 minutes, Jojo called me on the phone and demanded to know where I bought my sanitary fittings. She asked if I bought from XXX shop down the street and demanded to know exactly what I bought from them. I flatly refused to give her any details and the conversation lasted for 8 minutes with her repeatedly asking me what I bought. When I put down the phone, I really regretted buying anything from her but since I'd already paid the deposit I only prayed for my items to come intact.
About a week later, I asked for the items to be delivered. The salesgirl on the line (not Jojo) confirmed that my items can be delivered on Wednesday at 1pm. At 12pm on Wednesday I called to confirm again and she told me that the items were not in the warehouse yet and she cannot confirm that my items can reach me at 1pm!! Can you imagine that she didn't even intend to call me beforehand and was going to let me wait like a fool at a half-renovated house with no seats?! Anyway I agreed to postpone the delivery to the next day.
The next day the items arrive promptly... but... there was no hole for my tap on the kitchen sink. There was a hole on the sink that was displayed in the showroom so I naturally assumed that the sink comes with a hole for kitchen taps. I do know that some sinks do not as the taps are to be mounted on the table top. So I called Viva Nueva again and this time Jojo answered.
She insisted that it was MY FAULT for not telling them that I needed a hole for my kitchen tap and wanted me to ask my contractor/plumber to drill a hole. BUT if they did the job and spoilt the sink who was to pay for it? In the first place, I don't buy sinks every day and am not a professional at buying sinks so HOW WOULD I KNOW that sinks don't come with holes?! She as the sales staff SHOULD ask the customer if they need one drilled isn't it??? Anyway the deliveryman was very kind and he agreed to take back the sink and drill the hole for me, even while I was still arguing with Jojo over the phone. So there went my sink again. Thankfully my kitchen hob came intact.
I told Jojo that she has to inform me two hours before the delivery of my sink as I needed time to rush down. She said she would inform me an hour before and I found that to be reasonable. BUT the next day, the deliveryman called me at 12noon to tell me that he was there waiting for me. I was on my way to town and simply couldn't rush down. So the deliveryman left the sink there and left. I managed to go down at 4pm and lo and behold, there was a footprint in the middle of the sink and tons of haphazard scratches all over the base of the sink which weren't there in the first place. I reckon they must have gotten there when the drilling was done.
Anyway I called Jojo again and told her to take back the sink. She said that the scratches were part of the design and ALL her sinks have the scratch-like design. hahaha Anyway she said she got her deliveryman to come down and I asked her when he would arrive. She insisted that he was coming now and refused to say when he would arrive. He did eventually after 45 minutes and took back the sink grudgingly saying that he would never deliver the sink again.
In the next two days, we argued with Jojo many times and insisted that we wanted a refund and that we would just buy our sink elsewhere since the delivery of HER sink was delaying our renovation. My contractor needed her sink in order to cut the opening on my kitchen cabinets. After much talks, the sink finally came (unannounced again) and we inspected it before paying the remaining amount in cash.
What an experience it was just trying to get our $235 sink (which IS expensive for a non-European sink btw).
The hob wasn't cheap too at $529 though I was told by friends that for that brand it is quite a good buy. BUT I certainly would have settled for a lesser brand if I knew how much trouble patronising this shop would cause.
If I can give lesser than one star I would.
Rating given:
After renovation, the walls in our house looked so empty so we looked into ways of getting them spruced up. My parents weren't a fan of getting paintings as holes had to be made in order to hang the paintings up.
So I thought of wall decals. After looking at many local decal websites, I found Decorette! I liked a few of the designs on the website and was ready to order them. However, at that point, I could find one that I liked for the living room. I wanted something which was family related but there weren't any of those. So I decided to have one customised.
I emailed Amanda of Decorette about my plans and she replied in a couple of days. With a couple of emails to and fro, we had the design finalised and I paid through paypal. In 3 days after paying, the decals were on my doorstep! That's fast isn't it? Especially since she needed to customise mine and cut it up, etc... Not to mention the customised one cost $50 only! She also threw in little swirly designs for me free... and I made little changes to my chandelier one without additional charges.
The decals came well packed and protected by the hard tube, so they were in mint condition.
The decals were easy to put up and the instructions were easy to understand. Amanda even included a little cute birdie for us, first-timers, to try putting up before we put our actual decal. But we loved the birdie so much we put it together with the family decal!
Though easy to put up, it still took us some time about 1 and a half hours to put two up. But it was well worth the effort!
Rating given:
I was shopping along Geylang for my sanitary fittings and came across this shop. We were looking specifically for one-piece toilet bowls as they are known to have less leakage problems but the one-piece bowls at other shops were really expensive, some going up to $800 when a two-piece one goes for $100 .
We went into Eestilo and was happy to find that they had a package for the one-piece bowl and a sink for $299. There were also other sinks available and one has to just top up a little on the package.
What I was most impressed with was the level of service provided. Sunny, the sales guy there, moved the two sinks we wanted to where they had the taps. At my father's request, he detached the taps from the display and place them on the sinks we chose to let us see if it was satisfactory. He did that for 7-8 taps without any grumble and with a smile, in fact!
Though the taps weren't as cheap as we had hope for it to be but I guess the promotion for the one-piece toilet bowl and the service made up for all that. :)
Rating given:
I got to know about this shop from a renovation forum while doing renovations in my home. I favoured this over the regular Jalan Besar shops cos it's away from all the light-shoppers AND it's much nearer to where I live. Moreover I'm more familiar with Geylang. But I hadn't shopped for lights before then and wasn't sure what to expect.
I liked the shop instantly on sight. It was in a corner of a pretty rundown building. What I liked was that it wasn't one of those big snobbish looking lighting stores (like some others I passed along the way there). It looked exactly like what it was.. a family run business with nice warm friendly smiles. Alex is the young man in charge and he certainly knows his products well! If you see a light that you liked in another shop you can just describe it to him and he will know it instantly.
The shop itself is quite small though they try to cramp as much as possible on display. He knows lights pretty well so he can source for lights which aren't on display in his shop. I think the prices in his shop are very competitive and certainly much cheaper than the bigger fancy stores I went to on the same stretch. He has the same designs too! I think Alex's resourcefulness really makes up for the lack of variety (his shop is small rem?).
On top of that they have ceiling fans of almost every brand there and it's good to talk to Alex about ceiling fans because he can really advise on what size and brand to buy.
I think the best part was that they weren't pushy. We went back three times and only bought on the third trip. AND Alex remembered us and our requirements even after a few days. In fact, he remembered my sister even after a few weeks!
With good prices, prompt delivery and good service, I think this shop is really worth visiting if you're looking for lights!!
Rating given: